Lock.



PATENTED JULY 14; 1908.

K. N. GATHER.

LOCK.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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ATTORNEYS APPLICATION FILED JAN.16, 1908.

WITNESS up I m .v v g o. 893,442. I PATENTED JULY 14, 1908.

K.N.G'ATHER.

LOCK.

APPLICATION FILED 3111.16, 1908.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES INVENTOR m3 7 Y -iii'ng man .ZK'CaZ/zar ATTORNEYS No. 893,442. PATENTED JULY 14, 1908.

K. N. GATHBR.

LOCK.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 16, 1908. i

' 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

WITNESSES INVENTOR ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES KINGMAN NOTT OATHER, OF COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO.

LOCK.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, KINGMAN NOTT CA- THER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Colorado Springs, in the county of El Paso and State of Colorado, have invented a new and Im roved Look, of which the following is a ful clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to locks, my more particular purpose being to make an improved type of lock suitable for use upon cars and adapted to be sealed.

My invention embraces certain new internal parts of the lock and their relative arrangement, for the purpose of increasing the security afforded by the lock and also simplifying the construction.

My invention further relates to means whereby several looks upon the same car may be secured by a single seal, by aid of a wire, string or other longitudinal flexible member.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a lock as applied to a car door, the parts being in their normal positions and the door being locked. Fig. 2 is an enlarged central section upon the line 22 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrow and showing the bolt extending through the staple, so as to secure the hasp, this view further showing the seal (having the form of a brittle plate) so disposed that the latter must be broken before the bolt can be withdrawn from the staple; Fig 3 is an enlarged elevation somewhat similar to Fig. 1, but showing the bolt as withdrawn from the staple; Fig. 4 is an enlarged horizontal section upon the line 44 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrow and showing the bolt together with the slide and keeper for controlling the bolt; Fig. 5 is a fragmentary side elevation showing the construction disclosed in Fig. 1 viewed as from the right of said figure, this view further showing the slot through which the brittle plate serving as a seal is inserted in order to prevent tampering with the bolt; Fig. 6 is an elevation showing the back plate provided with the slideway containing the slide, this view also showing a keeper of semicircular form in the position which it occupies when the bolt is thrown so as to lock the door; Fig. 7 is a fragmentary side elevation viewed as from the left of Fig. 1 and showing the slide provided at its top Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 16, 1908.

Patented July 14, 1908.

Serial No. 411,103.

with a heart-shaped pocket, and at its bottom with a rounded boss for the purpose of enabling the keeper to control the bolt, Fig. 8 is a side elevation somewhat similar to Fig. 7 but showing the slide as drawn toward the front by aid of a key, in order to release the bolt so as to permit it to be withdrawn; Fig. 9 is a section upon the line 99 of Fig. 6, looking in the direction of the arrow, and showing the back plate provided with a straight slideway for' the slide and with a curved slideway for the keeper, the slide and the keeper, however, being removed Fig. 10 is a fragmentary rear elevation of the bolt and slide Fig. 11 is an enlarged plan View of the keeper Fig. 12 is a perspective of the key used for operating the lock and Fig. 13 is an elevation partly broken away, showing another form of my improved lock in which a number of balls are substituted for the keeper, and in which certain portions are rendered compound or double-acting.

A casing 14 is provided at its lower end with a flat portion 15, and is further provided with lugs 16. Countersunk bolts 17 pass through these lugs, and countersunk bolts 18 pass through the flat portion 15, for the purpose of securing the casing upon a car. The casing 14 is also provided with a projecting portion 19, having upon its front face a shelf 20 for the purpose of warding off rain or snow. A bolt 21 is slidably mounted within the casing and is preferably of about the same length as the latter, extending entirely through the projecting portion 19 of the casing. The bolt 21 has, for the most part, the proximate form of a large flat bar and is provided at its upper end with a ring 22, whereby it may be raised when otherwise freed. The bolt 21 is further provided with a facing 27 which is merely a fiat surface slidably engaging the inner wall of the casing. This facing has the shape of a keystone in order to allow the broken parts of the seal to more readily drop out at the bottom. The bolt 21 is provided at its lower end with a cylindrical portion 23, and this portion is provided with holes 24, 25, of different sizes, extending directly through it. A staple is shown at 26 and is mounted rigidly upon the lower portion 15 of the casing. The purpose of the hole 24, is to have strings or wires passed through anumber of them in succession where several locks are used upon the same car, in order that a single seal may suffice for all or any desired number of the locks,

by means of a wire, cord, ta e or other flexible material, being strung t irough the holes 24, of bolts of several locks other than the lock that is to hold the seal; and the ends of the wire, cord or flexible tape to be held by the holes 25 of the lock that has the seal. Where the hasp Cannot be readily fitted over the staple 26, a short piece of wire, cord or flexible tape can be fastened by threading through the hasp and then threaded through i the holes 25 in the member 23, and then sealed and looked. A hasp 27 is provided with a portion 28 and with a hinge 29, the portion 28 being secured upon a car door 28*. The hasp is slotted and is adapted to engage the staple 26 in such a manner as to hold the door securely closed when the parts are in the position indicated in Fig. 1, the bolt 21 being now in its lowermost position and being held rigidly in such position, as hereinafter described.

The casing contains a large compartment 30which contains most of the movable parts. A finger guide 31, having substantially a crescent form, is integral with the portion 19 of the casing. The portion 19 is further provided immediately adjacent to the finger guide 31 with a slot 30 for facilitating the entrance of the seal. A back late 32, hav

ing generally the form indicatec in Fig. 6, is

provided with a longitudinal slot 32 extending from one of its ends to the other, and is further provided with a portion 33 having a slot 33 of substantially arcuate form. The slot 33 is separated from the slot32 by a wall 33' having at its base a groove 33 to give the boss 41 room in which to travel vertically, as hereinafter described.

Mounted within the slot 32 and movable in the general longitudinal direction thereof is a slide 34 having a projecting face 35. This face is provided with a key-hole 36 of substantially arcuate form. A key head 37, also of arcuate form, is adapted to partially enter the key-hole 36,. This key head is mounted upon a handle 38 provided with a weight 39, and has no connection with the lock except when applied to it for the pur ose of controlling its movable parts, as wil be understood from Figs. 8 and 12. The slide 34 is provided with a bearing face 40 slightly curved and with a plane surface 42 bounding this bearing face, as indicated in Figs. 6 and 7, and is further provided with a boss 41 having substantially the form of a spherical segment, this boss being rigid upon the slide 34 and preferably integral therewith (see Fig. 7). The slide 34 is also provided with a portion 42 bounding the bearing surface 40. Slidably mounted within the slot 33 is a keeper 43 having the formof a rod of general arcuate form and free to move longitudinally within certain limits permitted by the slot. The slide 34 is provided with a pocket 44, the latter being merely an indentation, substantially heartshaped, as will be understood from Fig. 7. A ball 45 is disposed within the upper end of the arcuate slot 33 and is adapted to partially enter the pocket 44. The lower end of the keeper 43 is provided with a reduced end 46 as will be understood from Fig. 11. This reduced end is rounded and is adapted to loosely engage the rounded stud 41. The upper end of the keeper is provided with a concave bearing 47 (see Figs. 6, 11) which engages the ball 45. The slide 34 is further provided with shoulders 48, 49, and these shoulders are engaged by shoulders 50,

51, respectively carried by the bolt 21 (see Figs. 7 and 8). The horizontal play of the slide 34 relatively to the bolt 21, that is to say, the distance which it can be drawn forwardly by the key as indicated in Fig. 8, is

limited in one direction by the mating of the shoulder 48 with the shoulder 50, and the shoulder 49 mating the shoulder 51. The bolt 21 is provided upon its rear face with a semicircular aperture 52 merging into a slot 53. dom of movement of the lower end of the keeper 43 where it comes into engagement with the rounded boss 41. As the slot 32 in the back plate 32 registers with the slot 53 in the bolt 21, the slide 34, when drawn to ward the front of the look by the hand-operated key as above described, moves further into the slot 53. In doing this (see Fig. 4) the ball 45, being unable to follow the slide This is for the purpose of allowing free- 34 because of the presence of a pin 55, is displaced slightly in a lateral direction and presses upon the adjacent end of the keeper 43. This causes the opposite end 46 of the keeper to move in behind the rounded boss 41 (see Fig. 6), and the result is that the slide 34 may be moved freely upward, or in other words, the device occupies the condition commonly designated as unlocked. If, now, the bolt be moved upward by hand, the keeper 43 drops downwardly into its lowermost position (see dotted lines in Fig. 3).

In order to allow the bolt 21 the proper freedom of movement, as above described, and yet to allow the pin 55 to retain the ball 45 in position, an aperture 56 is made in the slide 34, as will be understood from Fig. 4.

A seal 54 having the form of a rectangular brittle plate is employed for the pur ose of securing the bolt when the door is ocked. In order to insert the seal, it is taken into the hand and inserted into the slot 30 while the upon the rounded end 46. The upward movement of the keeper 43 causes its upper bearing end 47 to force the ball 45 into the pocket 44, which is located upon the left edge of the slide according to Figs. 1 and 3. It is obvious that the keeper 43 cannot move in either direction so long as the bolt occupies this position, and it is equally obvious that the bolt cannot be moved without first displacing the slide 34, and this cannot be done without breaking the seal. Now, to release the bolt, the operator breaks the seal, inserts the head 37 of the manually-operated key into the key-hole 36, pulls the head 34 toward the front and raises the bolt by hand, as above described. The seal when once in position within the lock and the bolt 21 is moved forward, the seal cannot be displaced, for the reason that it passes out of alinement with the o ening through which it is inserted (see Fig. 5

Fig. 13 shows another form of my invention in which the mechanism is partly duplicated in order to allow the bolt to be secured in either of its two extreme positions. By aid of this device the operator can leave the bolt in such condition that it is necessary to break the seal to either unlock or to lock the door. The casing is shown at 57 and the sliding bolt at 58. A slot 59, of arcuate form, is filled with loose balls 60. A slide 61 (corresponding to the slide 34 in Fig. 6) is provided with a face 62 (corresponding with the face 35, Fig. 6) and is further provided with a key-hole 63. The face 62 is adapted to register with an aperture 64 so that by aid of a key the slide can be drawn out substantially as above described with reference to the slide 34. The casing 57 is provided with another aperture 65 analogous to the aperture 64, and with an opening 66 and a guard 67 to facilitate the admission of a seal. The slide 61 is provided with pockets 68, 69, and adjacent to these pockets and carried by the bolt 58 are pins 70, 71. The action of the lock shown in Fi 13 is substantially the same as that of the Iock shown in the other figures, with the exception that two seals may be employed so that the bolt 58 is secured in either of its extreme positions, and with the further exception that instead of a keeper of arcuate form, the balls 60, arranged in a circular row, are employed as a keeper.

IVhile I show my look as applied to the body of a car it will be understood that I do not limit myself to this particular use of it, as it may be employed otherwise upon cars and may also be used in relations entirely independent of cars or railroading.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a lock, the combination of a casing, a bolt mounted therein and movable relatively thereto, a slide mounted Within said casing and movable relatively thereto, means controllable at will for moving said slide relatively to said bolt, a member movably mounted within said casing, and a ball adapted to engage said member and also to engage said slide for the purpose of enabling said slide to control the position of said member.

2. In a lock, the combination of a casing, a bolt mounted therein and adapted to travel relatively thereto, a member mounted with in said casing, means for moving said mem ber relatively to said bolt, a second member movably mounted within said casing for the purpose of temporarily securing said bolt in a predetermined position relatively to said casing, and mechanism controllable by the movement of said first-mentioned member relatively to said bolt for the purpose of actuating said second-mentioned member.

3. In a lock, the combination of a casing provided with a slot of arcuate form, an further provided with a straight slot merging into said first-mentioned slot, a slide mounted within said straight slot, a member of arcuate form slidably mounted within said slot of arcuate form, a rolling body mounted within said slot of arcuate form and adapted to engage said slide and said member for the purpose of holding said member in a predetermined position when said slide occupies a predetermined position, a portion of said member engaging a portion of said slide, means for moving said slide by hand so as to move said member, and a bolt disposed within said casing and controllable by the position of saidmember.

4. In a lock, the combination of a casing provided with an arcuate slot, a bolt slidably mounted within said casing, a lurality of balls mounted loosely within saic slot and so disposed as to form a row of substantially arcuate form, a slide engaging said bolt, means for actuating said slide by power for the purpose of controlling the positions of said balls, and connections from said balls to said slide for the purpose of controlling the condition of said bolt.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

KINGMAN NOTT OATHER.

Witnessesz' W. S. NIoHoLs, H. J. MAOMARTIN. 

